


five times bare ficlets

by theswearingkind



Category: bare: A Pop Opera - Hartmere/Intrabartolo
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-02
Updated: 2007-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-13 07:08:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 2,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2141718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theswearingkind/pseuds/theswearingkind
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of 5 Times ficlets for <i>bare: a pop opera</i>, of varying lengths, ratings, and pairings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 5 Senses Through Which Peter Captivated Jason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written for the Big Damn Table, prompt #99 - writer's choice (sense). thanks to didaverseend for letting me steal her prompt.

**Five**. Hot, hot, it’s so hot that Jason thinks he might be melting. They are twisted together in the center of Peter’s bed, making out like they’re back in sophomore year. Peter grins at him, and Jason has to lean forward and taste the tangy, salt-sharp sweat pooling in the tiny hollow where Peter’s jaw meets his ear. 

 **Four**.  It’s fail-safe: Jason can always tell when Peter is about to come, because he makes this sound in the back of his throat that Jason likes to think means _yes take me I’m yours._

 **Three**.  He’ll never tell Peter this, but the first time Jason realized he was in love was after gym class one day in their junior year: they’d been running laps for thirty minutes outside in the hottest part of the day, and even though every other guy in the class smelled like dirty socks, Peter managed to smell like soap and coffee.

 **Two**.  So, so drunk.  That is what Peter is.  And Jason knows it’s taking advantage, knows that this is wrong in all sorts of ways, but he might never get the chance again—so he reaches out and touches Peter’s face, traces the curve of his lips with shuddering fingers.

 **One**.  Peter, underneath him, around him—Jason never had the words before, but it looks like something good might come out of auditions after all: _Did my heart love till now?  Forswear it, sight!  For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night._  
  



	2. 5 Ways Peter Got Over Jason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the Big Damn Table prompt of #3 - ends. Specific prompt from didaverseend.

_Five_.  It took him two years to realize that Jason was never coming after him, which was about two years longer than it should have.  He had sex that night for the first time in—not two years, but close, and when he came, there was no one in the room but them. 

_Four_.  If he’d thought about it more, he might have decided it was cruel—taking his new boyfriend to prom, where Jason was bound to see.  But the truth is, he didn’t think about it.  In fact, from the day he’d met Chris, he’d barely thought about Jason at all. 

_Three._   The baby was gorgeous.  Ivy was still beautiful, but in a tired way, and Jason—Jason looked frayed at the edges, like he might fall apart if someone breathed too hard in his direction.  It took Peter a minute to understand that the anger just wasn’t there anymore.  If he felt anything, it was pity. 

_Two._   September 23 rd came and went, and Peter didn’t even realize it until three days later.  Jason hadn’t ever been one for looking back, and Peter was finally beginning to get that.      

_One._   He grew up, and Jason didn’t, and it was as simple as that.


	3. 5 People Jason Didn't Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Big Damn Table prompt #50, spade. Specific prompt from didaverseend.

_Five_.  Matt, because there’s something about the way he looks at Ivy, and then at Jason, and then at Peter, like he can see the invisible lines of their triangle, that makes Jason itch under his skin. 

_Four_.  Sister Chantelle—whenever she passes him in the hallway or at rehearsal, he can hear her make a kind of judging noise in the back of her throat, and she’s always really nice to Peter afterward.

_Three_.  The Father.  He never meets anyone’s eyes during the sermon. 

_Two_.  Peter’s “friend from home—he’s a really good guy, Jason.  We hung out a few times last summer, went to the movies once or twice a week.  Nothing big.  You’d like him.”  Jason highly doubts it. 

_One_.  Himself.


	4. 5 Times Peter and Jason Held Hands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Big Damn Table prompt #79, when? Thanks to trascendenza for the specific prompt.

_Five_.  Underneath the table at lunch one day, Jason with his other arm looped around Ivy’s shoulders, leaning over to whisper in her ear—but his fingers twined through Peter’s, squeezing like a promise.

_Four_.  The day Peter’s mom called and said that his grandfather was dead—even though it wasn’t really a surprise, it still hurt, but Jason’s hand, wrapped tight around his, helped. 

_Three_.  The first time they had sex, Jason pressing furious kisses to the back of Peter’s neck and trying to stay alive long enough to get Peter to where he was—and his hand on top of Peter’s, gripping hard enough to break the bones.

_Two_.  On top of the armrest in a dark movie theater where they’d gone to get away from finals—there was no one else there, so it didn’t really matter, but Peter appreciated the gesture. 

_One_.  At practice, even though it didn’t really count—because Peter wasn’t Juliet and never would be, and that was the whole problem.  



	5. 5 Wishes Peter Never Told Jason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Big Damn Table prompt #35, sixth sense.

_Five_.  I wish you were a girl, so that I could love you and it would be okay. 

_Four_.  I wish you had half the courage everyone thinks you have.

_Three_.  I wish you’d kiss me with your eyes open, so I’d know it was me you were seeing.

_Two_.  I wish you’d say the words.  Just one goddamn time. 

_One_.  I wish we’d never met.


	6. 5 Other Men that Peter Looked At

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Big Damn Table prompt #82, if.

**Five.**   This is ridiculous.  Completely ridiculous.  And Peter knows it—knows that this is crazy, that _he’s_ crazy.  It’s just a face on a magazine cover. 

But _God_ , what a face. 

Eyes like the water off the coast of some Caribbean island or something, and lips that look like they just _need_ to be bitten.  And the smile.  God, the smile—it stretches mile-wide across his face, and Peter is gone.  Absolutely gone.

He picks it up, tosses it on the counter with the groceries his mom sent him to pick up.  “That, too,” he says, rolling his eyes.  “My little sister _loves_ him.” 

 

**Four.**   Peter loves Jason.  Okay?  Like, _loves_ him loves him.  He loves kissing Jason, touching Jason, doing…other things with Jason. 

The point is, Peter loves Jason.  Totally and completely.  He doesn’t want to be with anyone but Jason for the rest of his life. 

But it’s moments like these when he has to think very, very hard about that.

“Peter!” Matt yells from the court, where he’s practicing jump-shots.  Shirtless.  “Hey, man, you up for a little one-on-one?” 

Peter?  Peter is most certainly _up._  

 

**Three.**   “It’s, uh, Peter, right?”

Peter looks up from his sandwich, right into the greenest eyes he’s ever seen.  “Yeah,” he says quickly.  “David?”

“Daniel,” Green Eyes says, grinning.

“Sorry.  I’m terrible with names.”

“It’s cool.  You mind if I sit here?” Green Eyes—Daniel—asks, gesturing to the seat across from Peter. 

“Uh, no.  Not at all.” 

“Good, good.  Didn’t want to sit by myself, y’know?  It’s like announcing _I’m a prospective student, come recruit me_ ,” Daniel smiles.  “These Catholic kids are crazy.” 

Peter laughs.  “You’re not Catholic?”

“Nah, I am,” Daniel says.  “But I’m kinda crazy, too.” 

“Nice that you let everyone know right away.”

“I’m a considerate guy.” 

They eat for a minute in silence.  “So,” Daniel says suddenly, “what do you think?” 

Peter looks around, then shrugs.  “It’s okay,” he says.  “Not really my kinda place.”

“Then why are you here?”

Peter shrugs again.  “I’m Catholic.  Law requires that I apply.  And my best friend is coming here, so.” 

Daniel nods, considering.  “So where _is_ your kinda place, Peter? 

Peter smiles.  “Berkeley.” 

“You’re kidding!”

Peter rolls his eyes.  “I know, I know.  That’s what everyone says.”

“No, no, it’s just—Peter, I’m totally applying there!”

“Seriously?”

Daniel grins, eyes lit up.  “Yeah!  Man, this is awesome!  Fuck Notre Dame, Peter,” he says excitedly, “let’s go to Berkeley.  We could be roommates!”

They could. 

 

**Two.**   Peter moved in with Jason in their freshman year—the two years before that, he’d lived with a kid named Alec, who’d been smart and quiet and funny in a not-obvious way, and he’d barely talked to anyone but Peter.  Alec’s mom got transferred to a new job in Oregon, and their family moved away the summer after eighth grade.  He came back to Chicago to visit his grandparents during sophomore year, and he met up with a few of them at a restaurant not far from school—he’d grown about ten inches and put on what looked like thirty pounds of solid muscle.  But he still didn’t talk to anyone but Peter, and before he left the restaurant, he pressed a scrap of paper with his phone number scribbled on it into Peter’s hand.  

 

**One.** It’s not Peter’s darkest secret, but it’s pretty close: Jason’s parents came to watch one of their son’s basketball games junior year, and Peter spent most of the game trying to will down the hard-on he kept getting every time Jason’s dad glanced his way.  Like father, like son.  



	7. 5 Shirts Jason Noticed Peter Wearing (And Why)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Big Damn Table prompt #80, why?

_Five_.  His black altar robe, with the high white collar that usually covers up most of the fading bruises Jason has sucked into the curve of his throat.  Jason has been known to get embarrassingly hard during Mass imagining bending Peter over the altar and fucking him right there.

_Four_.  That green striped thing that he borrowed for the rave, because Jason is kind of a caveman and seeing Peter wearing his clothes gets him revved up.  He lied when he said Peter wouldn’t be wearing it that long—he left it on all night, even after everything else had come off. 

_Three_.  A blue polo shirt that’s way too big for him.  Jason’s pretty sure it used to belong to Matt.  He refuses to think about how Peter came to possess it, or why he wears it around like a trophy after they break up.

_Two_.  The uniform—white button-down, navy sweater vest, a _tie_ , for God’s sake—because Peter’s maybe the only kid in the whole school who bothers with the whole thing, and it’s sexy as hell, and it kind of makes Jason want to put that tie to far more _interesting_ purposes, and spend the afternoon making that good Catholic schoolboy scream himself hoarse.  You know, kind of. 

_One_.  Plain white t-shirt.  Noticed it less when Peter had it on than when he peeled it off.


	8. 5 Ways Jason Could Have Told Peter He Loved Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Big Damn Table prompts #5, outsides; #92, Christmas; #70, storm; #8, weeks; and #96, dare.

1.  _Outsides._

They are very, very drunk.  Shitfaced.  Peter can barely stand up straight, and Jason is okay with that, because what he has in mind has nothing to do with any part of Peter being _straight_. 

He’s horny in that way that only really drunk teenage boys ever get—ragingly, loopily turned-on, and there’s Peter, all big eyes and wet lips and messy hair, looking like every wet dream Jason’s had since he was fifteen.

“C’mere,” he says, pulling Peter to him and kissing him sloppily.  Peter tastes like vodka and rum and everything Jason wants.

“Fucking love you,” he mumbles. 

 

2.  _Christmas._

“Merry fucking Christmas,” Jason grins.  “Emphasis on the fucking.” 

From beneath him, Peter rolls his eyes and stretches a little bit, and Jason feels himself stir inside Peter’s body.  Apparently Peter feels it too, because he breaks out this wicked kid-in-the-candy-jar smile that does nothing to dampen Jason’s hard-on.  “Jesus, Jason.  We have to sleep _sometime_.”  Suffice it to say, his words do not match his actions.

Jason manages to keep his train of thought somewhat intact, even though they’re already moving again and Peter’s tighter than should even be possible given tonight’s three-peat, and he grunts out, “Don’t _have_ to.”

“Sure we do,” Peter says brightly.  “Otherwise Santa won’t come.”

“ _We_ will.”

“It’s the principle of the thing.” 

Jason laughs, caught off guard, and buries his face in Peter’s neck.  “God, I love you,” he says, and brings the total to four.

 

3.  _Storm._

“Fuck you, you piece of shit,” Peter snarls—actually fucking snarls.  “You’re such an _asshole_.”

Jason scoffs.  “So this is _my_ fault?  God, somehow I knew we’d get around to that—I _knew_ you were going to make this into something it isn’t—”

“How the fuck do you even know what it is?  Not like you’ll deign to discuss it with us lowly—”

“Way to be a bitch, Peter—”

“Way to be a fucking _prick_ —” 

“You—I should— _fuck_!” Jason says emphatically, slamming a hand down on his desk, the loud slap of skin on hardwood echoing through their room.  “You’re fucking lucky I love you so goddamn much, because otherwise I swear to God I’d kill you.” 

 

4.  _Weeks._

_Hey.  It’s Peter.  Not at the phone right now, so just leave me a message and I’ll get back to you.  Bye._

“Peter, hey.  It’s—uh, it’s Jason.  I mean, you probably knew that, but, uh, whatever.  I was just—I mean, training camp starts tomorrow, and I’m gonna be driving through.  So I thought, you know, maybe we could get together or something.  If you want.  Just call me when you get this, okay?  Or not.  I mean, whatever works for you is fine.  God.  Summer sucked.  _Sucked_ , man.  And—I, uh, love you.  So, yeah.  Call me back.”

 

5.  _Dare._

“Okay, okay, your turn,” Ivy laughs.  “Peter, truth or dare?”

He considers.  “Truth.” 

“Boring,” Lucas sing-songs.  “Choose dare.”

“No fair changing,” Ivy says, shaking the bottle of tequila in Lucas’s direction before turning her attention back to Peter.  “Okay, truth.  Um.  Have you ever had sex?” 

“Yes,” Peter replies almost primly.

“Peter!” Lucas crows.  “You didn’t tell me!  Who was it?  Was she hot?” 

“Not part of the question,” Peter grins back.  “It’s Jason’s turn now.” 

“Dare,” Jason says, feeling brave. 

Ivy pouts.  “You didn’t even let me ask.” 

“Just trying to speed things up,” he replies. 

“Okay, I’ve got a good one,” Lucas cuts in.  “I dare you to do something you thought you’d never be able to do.” 

Jason’s smile falters a little.  “What?”

“Something you thought you’d never be able to do.  Do it.”

“That’s lame,” Ivy says, rolling her eyes.  “Pick something else.”

“No fair changing,” Lucas reminds her.  “Okay, Jason.  Go for it.”

Jason is quiet for a long time.  “Peter?” he says finally.

“Yeah?” Peter asks, and the word is an ocean Jason can throw himself into.

“Love you.”    
  
 


	9. 5 Ways That Peter Couldn't Move On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Big Damn Table prompts #9, months; #22, enemies; #25, strangers; #44, circle; and #60, drink.

1. _Wake Me Up When September Ends_ (#009 Months)

His mother barely lets him out of her sight all summer.  She’s convinced that he’ll never make it through those long hours of nothingness without going slightly insane.  Maybe she’s right, too, so he doesn’t complain, even though some days all he wants is to curl into his pillow and sleep.

But by the end of summer, she must think that the worst is over, because she stops hovering and lets him have his space.  It’s ironic, actually, that she lets go in September.

Peter hears the words like phantoms in his ears every day.  _Peter, I think I’m gay._

 

2. _Cheap Guitar_ (#025 Strangers)

There’s this guy in his freshman seminar—tall and lanky, with arms a little too big for his body and the brownest eyes Peter has ever seen.  He sits next to Peter every day for three weeks before he introduces himself—turns out that they live four doors apart from one another, and they’ve got the same music on their iPods, and they both had dogs named Rusty when they were little.  They eat lunch and dinner together on Wednesday. 

Peter fucks him less than a week later, pretends to forget to call, and finds a new seat in seminar. 

 

3. _Wanted: Dead or Alive_ (#044 Circle)

He loses himself in the pattern of it all, the swing of classes and meals and papers, the circles of sameness that drive him crazy even though really, they’re all that’s keeping him sane.  He sleeps as much as he can, as often as he can, and doesn’t bother with making friends or any shit like that.  He passes only by the grace of God. 

What Peter wants and will never have again is that feeling of safety that came from knowing he was loved, knowing that there was someone in the world who cared whether he lived or died.

 

4. _Drunks with Guns_ (#060 Drink)

There’s a party at one of the fraternity houses.  He’s not sure which one, but he finds himself there, tossing back shots like it’s going out of style, stumbling through the crush of bodies until he can lock himself in the bathroom and vomit, blood and acid and alcohol burning a hot path up his throat as he heaves into the toilet.  The last time he was this fucked up—actually, Peter’s not sure he’s ever _been_ this fucked up. 

He wipes his mouth and goes back to the party, not wanting to think about things that fucked him up worse.

 

5. _Redundant_ (#022 Enemies)

Two months into school, he walks into his dorm room to find Ivy sitting on his bed, hands gripping and twisting the comforter.  “Hey,” she says awkwardly, half-smiling, and he has to look away, because she’s too damn pretty.

“Peter, I—” she tries to say, but loses the words.  “I just wanted—I mean, I never—I…I didn’t know.  I never would have—and then, when we—” She blushes, crystal tears in her eyes, and has to swallow before she can continue.  “He loved you, Peter.  He never—never loved me,” she whispers, like it matters at all.

 


End file.
